Review Search: 2013-07-10

Joseph Michael Linsner's "Dawn the Swordmaster's Daughter and Other Stories" explores the past of Dawn, the goddess of rebirth, and her lover Darrian Ashoka through the inventive retelling of three separate folktales.

"Rachel Rising" #18 by Terry Moore continues the slow build of action around Lilith, the town of Manson and Zoe and the Malus-possessed priest, then veers abruptly towards unexpected, shocking cliffhanger in its last two pages.

"The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys" #2 by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon and Becky Cloonan further defines the divide between the City and the Desert and the beliefs of the Ultra-Vs vs. those of the last remaining Killjoy.

"Secret Avengers" #6 might as well be called "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." #6, as Nick Spencer and Butch Guice give up all pretenses to the contrary as S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to fight against A.I.M. Island.

"Suicide Squad" #22 has some fun scenes as the Squad hits Vegas, but it feels like Ales Kot and Patrick Zircher skip some of the more interesting parts in favor of replaying those already seen last issue.

Kyle Higgins and Will Conrad give the Prankster a bit more of a bite in "Nightwing" #22, when Nightwing learns the hard way what happens when you don't personally drop off the defeated villain with the police.

In "Young Avengers" #7, the team battles an old foe for their first three hilarious months on their own, before running into Prodigy, who has been waiting for them to turn up again at their bacon-friendly breakfast bar hang-out spot.

"Planet of the Apes: Cataclysm" #11, the penultimate issue of the series by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, is a tightly-written and appropriate-looking near-goodbye to a series that has bridged the gaps and enhanced the PotA franchise.

Writer Brian Michael Bendis uses his gift for gab to bring readers up to speed in the X-Men's world in "Uncanny X-Men #8, and penciller/colorist Chris Bachalo returns to bring a pleasant, quirky look back to the title.